


Morning

by NB_Cecil



Series: October OTP Ficlets [16]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Depression, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Tough Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 00:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16316048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NB_Cecil/pseuds/NB_Cecil
Summary: Picard is having a hard time and Data gives him some tough love.





	Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning: theme of mental illness—specifically depression.

“Tea: Earl Grey, hot.” Data instructed the replicator.

 

“Urrrgh.” Picard stirred under the duvet.

 

“Good morning, Captain.”

 

“What time is it?”

 

“Oh-eight-oh-nine. I have come straight from the night shift.”

 

“Lemme sleep.” Rolling over, Picard pulled the duvet over his head.

 

“Captain, may I remind you of your appointment with Counselor Troi at oh-nine-hundred-hours?”

 

“I’m ill. Beverly said so; she’s signed me off.”

 

“Yes, and in order to get better, you need to engage with your treatment.” Standing over the bed, holding the glass of tea, Data shooed Spot off the duvet and pulled it back with his free hand.

 

“No,” Picard protested, grabbing at the receding hem, “It’s cold.”

 

“Get dressed and you will be warmer.”

 

“I’m too ill.” A hint of a whine crept into the Captain’s voice.

 

“ _Up_.” Data replied emphatically, flinging the covers onto the floor. “I am going to run my daily diagnostic programme. It will take approximately seventeen minutes. When I am finished I expect you to be washed and dressed.”

 

Picard groaned, stretching his hand out for the glass. Data handed it over.

 

“Alright.” He grumbled, sipping his tea.

 

Picard listened until he heard the Android settle at the console in the adjoining room, before placing the tea on the nightstand and leaning out of bed to grab the duvet off the floor. He pulled it over his head and curled up in the foetal position, whimpering quietly, the guilt he felt at tricking Data pushing him further into self-loathing.

 

 _What’s the point?_ He thought, closing his eyes tightly against the ship’s default “daylight” lighting.

**Author's Note:**

> October OTP fics Day 16: “during their morning rituals”. Yeah, so I have some experience of this kind of self-loathing lying in bed stuff. What with the Borg assimilation and losing colleagues and friends in battles and accidents over the years, it’s reasonable to think that Jean-Luc Picard may struggle with his mental health too sometimes.
> 
> I’m trying to break my habit of writing in the present tense, so please excuse my clunky part-tense constructions (at least it feels clunky to me).


End file.
